We left the shores of Lake Huron early, and took the Trans Canada around Lake Superior. Beautiful! And the road was the best we have been on!
There are hiking trails everywhere! But Mike was in point A to point B mode, until I saw a sign for High Falls with scenic views and a hiking trail. Had to stop. But could we get the trailer in and turned around? We asked where we got fuel which was right by the road to the falls, but the guy there said he hadn't been there in 20 years and had no idea. The couple selling blueberries ($10/qt.) by the highway had no idea either. Then I noticed the marking for a boat launch - if they can launch a boat they can turn around, so we followed the very unlikely dirt track for quite a ways until we came to a wide parking area, picnic tables, and the falls! Whew. And just in time for lunch.
The falls are dependent on a dam, and can go from quite nice falls to a raging tumbling of water with no notice, so everywhere that you could get caught in the torrent was fenced off. There were old pictures of loggers standing on the riverbed with the falls in the background, but can't be done today. There was a hiking trail to the top of the falls and the smooth rockbed at the top, not strenuous, but welcome after sitting.
We met a couple there who were travelling around Lake Superior from Minnesota - they get 80 miles per US gallon. I wish!
Back on the highway we were still in moose country, with signs warning of moose at night all along the road. The scenery looks like a moose could just come and stand there. We got frequent views of the lake, all beautiful. The road continued to be excellent except for the frequent construction zones which added another layer of dust and dirt to the truck. And of course we had the obligatory rain - not just a sprinkle, but a downpour complete with thunder and lightning that stopped just before we got to Thunder Bay and my cousin Lloyd's place.
Lloyd and Willa operate a mobile home park and a hostel. They had a pretty full house - a scuba diving archaeologist from Calgary, a young lady from the Netherlands with a year's work visa for Canada headed to the BC mountains where she hoped to find a job and learn to ski, another young woman corporate lawyer from Quebec, fluently bilingual, on her way to Calgary to look for work - she had a job in Quebec but poor pay, so she was hoping for better opportunities. There were a couple of young men, another man waiting for his court date who was paying for his keep by working around the property, and later a family of 4.
Lloyd took the 2 'girls' and I out to the dump (which he referred to as his shopping centre, 'nuff said) to see the bears - we saw 5!
He also took us to the lakeshore (across the street) where we walked on rocks not unlike those at Peggy's Cove, except the veins are amethyst, very pretty. His view overlooks the Sleeping Giant, a rock formation at the end of the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, that at a certain angle - not this one! - looks like a giant. Maybe it takes more imagination.
Back at the house we had a very late supper thoughtfully provided by Willa, who is absolutely delightful, met their son David who popped in for a visit, and then hied ourselves off to bed. After we were almost asleep another guest arrived on a motorcycle (Harley, from the sound).
After that we knew nothing!
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